Die Todesautomatik

I Am My Own Woman

October 1992 •German

The life story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, who survived the Nazi reign as a trans woman and helped start the German gay liberation movement. Documentary with some dramatized scenes. Two actors play the young and middle aged Charlotte and she plays herself in the later years.

Buffalo Soldiers

October 2002 •English

A criminal subculture operates among U.S. soldiers stationed in West Germany just before the fall of the Berlin wall.

Berlin is in Germany

November 2001 •German

When Martin, a former GDR citizen, is released from jail, he lately becomes confronted with the consequences of the German re-unification.

Eastern Cross

July 1991 •German

15-year-old Elfie literally and metaphorically inhabits a no-man’s-land between the two Germanies shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The film deploys a neorealist aesthetic to reinforce the difficulties confronting the girl, and by inference, Germany.

The Legend of Rita

September 2000 •German

Rita Vogt is a radical West German terrorist who abandons the revolution and settles in East Germany with a new identity provided by the East German secret service. She lives in constant fear of having her cover blown, which unavoidably happens after the German re-unification.

No Place to Go

April 2000 •German

Flanders, a famous female author, travels in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin wall into the German capital. She is deeply depressed by the events because she saw the communist state as a very good thing that has now ended. In the joy of these days she finds no one to understand her, so she has to travel back to Munich. After meeting several people, known and unknown, it seems as if there will be no way to go.

Führer Ex

August 2002 •German

Ingo Hasselbach, whose parents were Communist Party members in East Germany during his childhood, has lived at both ends of the political seesaw. The question of how people reach a change of heart is a profound one; Hasselbach describes the external forces that led to his founding Germany's first neo-Nazi political party and the internal ones that led him away from it five years later.

Never Mind the Wall

June 2001 •German

Germany 1982: The country is divided into two parts. Nele, coming from West-Germany, travels to East-Germany where she meets Captain, singer of a band. They fall in love with each other, but the regime "takes care" of their relationship, meaning: They can not see each other again. Germany 1990: The country is reunited. Nele starts searching their lost love...

Die Datsche

January 2003 •English

The Architects

June 1990 •German

The architect Daniel Brenner is in his late thirties when he receives his first challenging and lucrative commission: to design a cultural center for a satellite town in East-Berlin. He accepts the offer under the condition that he gets to choose who he works with. This way, he reunites with former colleagues and friends - most of them architects or students of architecture who have since chosen a different profession due to personal restraint or economic confinement. Together, they develop a concept which they hope will be more appealing to the public than the conventional and dull constructions common to the German Democratic Republic. However, their ambitious plans are once and again foiled by their conservative supervisors. As frustration grows, Daniel has trouble keeping his career in balance with his family-life: his wife Wanda wants to leave for West-Germany.

Pink Floyd: The Wall

July 1982 •English

A troubled rock star descends into madness in the midst of his physical and social isolation from everyone.

...And Your Love Too

September 1962 •German

On August 13th, 1961 - the night that the Berlin Wall goes up - three people must make a decision that will change their lives forever.

The Flight

October 1977 •German

When Dr. Schmith's proposal for international research on infant mortality is rejected, he decides to leave East Germany and strikes a deal with an escape agency that promises him a leading position at a children's hospital in West Germany. But then the decision is reversed: the project is approved and his international colleagues want Dr. Schmith to head the GDR section. Moreover, he falls in love with his new colleague, Katharina. Schmith initially tries to ignore the arrangements he made with the escape agency, but they blackmail him. Things soon turn deadly...

Sunday Drivers

August 1963 •German

On August 12, 1961, eight people in three cars set off for Berlin from Leipzig. They want to go to the West. The initiator is the philistine Spiessack, who drives the others, who have embarked on the adventure with mixed feelings. It becomes a journey with numerous incidents and panic, which causes the different characters to clash. When they finally arrive in Berlin the next day, they are not allowed to cross the border. The only option is to return. At home, Spiessack is met by a policeman in his living room - with the slogan "We'll be back" written on the wall.

23

July 1998 •German

The movie's plot is based on the true story of a group of young computer hackers from Hannover, Germany. In the late 1980s the orphaned Karl Koch invests his heritage in a flat and a home computer. At first he dials up to bulletin boards to discuss conspiracy theories inspired by his favorite novel, R.A. Wilson's "Illuminatus", but soon he and his friend David start breaking into government and military computers. Pepe, one of Karl's rather criminal acquaintances senses that there is money in computer cracking - he travels to east Berlin and tries to contact the KGB.

Learning to Lie

July 2003 •German

18-year-old school boy Helmut falls in love with fellow pupil Britta. He starts working for a Peace movement to get to know Britta. Britta, however, suddenly moves to San Francisco to live with her father and whilst there, finds a new boyfriend. Helmut studies, literature and politics in his home town and have a relationship with another girl from his former school, now studying medicine at the same university but they break up after having an affair with her roommate. Helmut begins a lot of short affairs with different women but still searches for his first girl.

The Tunnel

January 2001 •German

Inspired by true events, Olympic swimmer Harry Melchior defects from East Germany in the 1960s and hatches a daring plot to help his sister and others flee East Berlin through a 145-yard underground tunnel.

Lena's Holiday

August 1991 •English

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Lena, from East Germany travels to Hollywood. After landing she loses her bag and can't find her hotel. She befriends a cab driver who doesn't believe someone is out to get her.

Just Don't Think I'll Cry

October 1965 •German

High-school senior Peter considers the adults around him to be hypocritical, self-congratulatory, and immersed in the past. He gets suspended for writing an essay that his teachers consider to be a challenge to the state. Just Don't Think I'll Cry became one of twelve films and film projects-almost an entire year's production-that were banned in 1965-1966 due to their alleged anti-socialist aspects. Although scenes and dialogs were altered and the end was reshot twice, officials condemned this title as "particularly harmful." In 1989, cinematographer Ost restored the original version, and this and most of the other banned films were finally screened in January 1990. Belatedly, they were acclaimed as masterpieces of critical realism.

November Child

November 2008 •German

Malchow, German Democratic Republic, 1980. 20-year-old Anne is hiding Juri, a deserter of the Red Army. The two fall in love with each other. But their love is threatened: there is an arrest warrant and possibly a death sentence waiting for Juri. The two leave the country and flee to the West, leaving Anne’s six-month-old daughter Inga behind. Inga grows up with her grandparents and thinks that her mother died during a swimming accident. 25 years later she meets the literature professor Robert, who sends her on the trail of her past. He met Inga’s mother Anne during one of his seminars. At first Inga is resistant, but then she asks for Robert’s help. Together they take off on a journey through Germany, in search of Inga’s mother Anne...